Committee chair rotation set by council

King councillors plan to stay with their committee of the whole format in conducting their meetings in 2007.

Regular council meetings, which are generally held twice per month except in the summer, usually adjourn into committee of the whole, at which time staff reports are considered and most of the public council debating takes place. Councillors take it in turns to chair these sessions, on a monthly rotating basis according to ward number. Mayor Margaret Black is chairing the sessions in January and September, Ward 1 Councillor Cleve Mortelliti will be in the chair in February and October, Ward 2 Councillor Jeff Laidlaw in March and November, Ward 3 Councillor Linda Pabst in April, Ward 4 Councillor Bill Cober in May, Ward 5 Councillor Jane Underhill in June and Ward 6 Councillor Jack Rupke in July and August.

Black chaired the committee meetings in December, and staff suggested she take the extra month in January. The councillors for Wards 1 and 2 were just in their first month in office when the schedule was set, and it was thought to be wise to give them an extra month to get the hang of the job before putting them in the chair.